Somalia’s media rights organizations have condemned Southwest state (SWS) police for their heavy-handed tactics against reporters in Southwest state on Wednesday.
Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) and the Somali Media Association (SOMA) said that SWS police raided the offices of Radio Barawe in the early evening and detained the station’s founder Fuad Shoble along with journalist Osman Aweys Bahar, who also reports for London-based Universal TV.
According to a joint statement from media rights defenders, both journalists were forced to walk to the beach and gunpoint before being transferred to the local police station, where they continued to be intimidated by officers.
“We condemn this violent attack by Southwest state police officers against Radio Barawe and the detention of Osman Aweys Bahar and radio founder Fuad Shoble,” Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the Secretary-General of Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS), said.
“We demand the immediate and unconditional freedom of the two colleagues detained. Police officers should not act above the law. They should be held accountable for their violent actions.”
Bahar reportedly sustained a hand injury resulting while in police custody.
The raid comes on the heels of an arrest warrant issued by a Lower Shabelle court for Bahar’s arrest in connection with Bahar’s reporting on the growing schism between the Barawe district council and the district commissioner.
The raid comes on the heels of an arrest warrant issued by a Lower Shabelle court for Bahar’s arrest in connection with Bahar’s reporting on the growing schism between the Barawe district council and the district commissioner.
SJS and SOMA said that Bahar had previously informed them that the district commissioner, Liban Abukar Bafo, and the police commissioner, Abduqadir Adan Mohamed, had threatened to detain him.
The attack also comes as recently elected Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is touring the drought-stricken region.
“We are very sad that the attack on Radio Barawe and the detention of its two staff members took place when Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was paying his first visit to this federal member state. We condemn the police’s violent raid, and we demand justice. SWS Police should free them immediately,” Mohamed Osman Makaran, the Secretary-General of the Somali Media Association (SOMA), said.
Media practitioners in the Southwest State have complained about police harassment. Southwest police raided and shut down Radio Barawe twice in the last two years and even banned the radio’s unique local Baravanese (Chimwiini) dialect programming.
